News: Sandusky hopes to have downtown's name in lights
JuggaLotus said:
There are areas in Detroit that aren't safe, but those aren't downtown or by the casinos, heck those aren't even really along 8 mile. Has construction even started on the permanent casinos? If these are the temporary buildings (I knew they were) what are the final ones going to look like?
They (MGM) have been very hush-hush about the design of their casino (though a small piece of concept art did come out). I drove by it earlier today... the building is already taking shape (about 5+ stories high). The MGM is going to be "Vegas-ish" - big tall fancy building. Where as Greektown and Motor City are just staying put and making their "temporary" ones permanent though they are both adding hotels. It is anyone's guess when they'll open as there is still what seems like a million lawsuits and even injunctions placed on the construction - its a big mess.
And arn't the papers splitting up (for lack of a better term)? I thought when Gannett bought them a few months back they said they would go back to having seperate weekend papers.
Greektown originally planned to spend $450 million to build an all-new facility. But casino officials changed their minds last November and decided to expand the temporary casino in the heart of the Greektown business district -- a move that will save $250 million.
Mike Leinweber, construction manager for Jenkins/Skanska Ventures LLC, which will build the permanent Greektown facility, told the Gaming Board that work will begin almost immediately.
...
All three Detroit casinos are building new facilities, which will include 100,000-square-feet of gaming space, 400-room hotels, entertainment centers, meeting rooms and parking structures. Here is when they expect to open:
Greektown Casino -- Sept. 2008 MotorCity Casino -- late 2007/early 2008 MGM Grand Detroit Casino -- early 2008
It would appear you're correct regarding adding on to the temporary casinos, but I'm just wondering about the problems they'll be facing. Are these problems going to halt construction?
Brandon
djDaemon said:
From Detroit News
Greektown originally planned to spend $450 million to build an all-new facility. But casino officials changed their minds last November and decided to expand the temporary casino in the heart of the Greektown business district -- a move that will save $250 million.
Mike Leinweber, construction manager for Jenkins/Skanska Ventures LLC, which will build the permanent Greektown facility, told the Gaming Board that work will begin almost immediately.
...
All three Detroit casinos are building new facilities, which will include 100,000-square-feet of gaming space, 400-room hotels, entertainment centers, meeting rooms and parking structures. Here is when they expect to open:
Greektown Casino -- Sept. 2008 MotorCity Casino -- late 2007/early 2008 MGM Grand Detroit Casino -- early 2008 It would appear you're correct regarding adding on to the temporary casinos, but I'm just wondering about the problems they'll be facing. Are these problems going to halt construction?
It has/d something to do with some indian tribe and them sueing the city of Detroit because they weren't awarded a casino license back in the mid-90s when Detroit was allowed to give three out. The lawsuit restricted the three casinos from getting building permits until a ruling came down (pretty much the indians felt since they thought they should have gotten a casino no one should be allowed to build until their lawsuit is over). Greektown orginally was planning on building some huge casino complex but there was so much legal mess because of the lawsuit they dropped it. I believe the indian lawsuit was finally settled/injunction was lifted and the casinos were allowed to move adhead. Oh and Motor City Casino was sold to the Ilitchs (so now they pretty much own 96.443% of downtown).
To answer your question they halted construction for years (most of the casinos were suppose to be open by now) but like I said the lawsuit either got worked out or the injunction was lifted by the judge allowing construction to go into full swing. As of this morning there is some mega construction going on at MGM's new site and some pretty heavy construction near Motor City's casino
Here is an article that touches briefly on what the new MGM casino will have: http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060407/BUSINESS06/604070327/1002/BUSINESS
And here is concept art: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MGM_Grand_Detroit
And construction pictures (from a few months back... it is easily triple the size now as it is in the pictures): http://community.webshots.com/album/549334920VieyLc
And for Greektown: http://www.detnews.com/2005/casinonews/0509/13/A01-313101.htm
From all the info I read and the concept art I have seen the casinos are going to be pretty darn nice.
Gannett has owned the News for years. Apparently the Freepress was bought out recently, but I doubt they'll be doing seperate editions anytime soon.
I know they were working on the Detroit River Walk (I think they finally started construction). There's also some nice new townhouses around Comerica.
Goodbye MrScott
John
Well hopfully something is coming along. That is one large CBD that is highly underutilized. It's a real shame what has happened to Detroit.
With the new DRW arena on the horizon and some other key changes and improvements, Detroit will have a lot of the necessary ingredients for a full-fledged turnaround. However, without adequate leadership (or even competent, for that matter), none of it will really matter. Time will tell, I suppose.
But Detroit is really not as bad as common perception would tell you.
Brandon
Do you mean the city or the region? I definately realize that the region is actually a significant metropolitan area. Top ten in population if i recall correctly.
"But Detroit is really not as bad as common perception would tell you."
I would say the same thing about Cleveland, and yes i mean the city. ;)
Well, yeah, the metro area is generally nice, though there are some not-so-nice areas, as is the case with any metropolitan area. Downtown Detroit is quite a lot better than is portrayed in the news, movies, music, etcetera. The "slums" that are often shown when depicting Detroit are usually the outskirts or smaller areas where blight is highly concentrated. The "heart" of Detroit (Woodward, Hart, Jefferson, etc) is actually a pretty nice place.
Brandon
Oops, I'm sorry. I must have stumbled onto detroitcasinosbuzz.com. I thought I was on a website about Cedar Point. It's this really cool amusement park near Sandusky, Ohio. You should check it out sometime.
My bad. ;)
My author website: mgrantroberts.com.
Oh, quit your complaining and go join the rest of the landing party in transporter room 2. We'll see you when you get back.
Goodbye MrScott
John
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